Saturday, 16 April 2016

Lesser Spotted Lemons

I am trying to sort out my pantry, and use up tins and jars which have been lurking at the back of the shelf for far too long. And right at the back I came across a jar of lemon curd. Where did it come from? Why did I buy it? or rather, why on earth did I buy this 'basics' curd? Above is the lovely Tiptree Jar, with these ingredients - Sugar, Butter, Lemon Juice[11%] Whole Eggs, Citric Acid, Pectin, Lemon Oil. And here is the Sainsbury's basics curd, with these ingredients - Glucose-Fructose
Syrup, Water, Palm Oil, Maize Starch, Dried Egg, Gelling Agent: Pectin; Citric
Acid, Lemon Oil [0.1%], Acetic Acid, Antioxidant: Ascorbic Acid; Acidity
Regulator: Sodium Citrate; Colours: Curcumin, Beta-carotene.That's right - the Tiptree one contains more than 10% lemon- that's 100 times more than the Basics, with a mere 0.1% ! Not to mention butter and whole eggs in one, and lots of nontraditional curd ingredients in the other.Maybe that is why I spent 30p on the supermarket own brand - and not £2.30 on the pukka stuff from Essex.

But I found a recipe online to use it up - the Daily Telegraph had a three-ingredient pudding, needing just a jar of curd, eggs and flour. So I decided to use the jar in a pud. "Xanthe's Magic Lemon Pud"

Ingredients

1 500g
jar of lemon curd

2 eggs

45g
plain flour

Method

Preheat
the oven to Gas 4 / 180C / Fan 160.

Beat the
lemon curd, flour and egg yolks together.

In a
separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff, and then fold them into the
rest of the mixture. Scrape the mixture into a buttered 1 litre ovenproof dish.

Place
the dish in a roasting tin and pour boiling water around it to a depth of about
5cm. Measure out 150ml of boiling water and pour this over the top of the pudding
mix.

Bake for
35 minutes until risen and browned. The pudding should be dry to the touch, but
still a little wobbly. Serve with pouring or lightly whipped cream [or custard]

So this is what mine looked like

I was quite pleased with it - we had it half of it hot from the oven at lunchtime when it was cold, windy and wet outside. It tasted good. The top was a light sponge, and underneath a lemon sauce.However I let it cool and put the remainder into the fridge. When I reheated it in two pudding bowls that evening, it tasted quite strange!! The sauce went very thick and gloopy - Bob didn't realise it was the same pud he had eaten a few hours earlier. I suspect that with proper curd it might have been ok. But this is not a recipe where you can substitute - unless it is all going to be eaten immediately. We live and learn...

8 comments:

We always buy Wilkin & Son Tiptree if we want marmalade, but I buy Waitrose's own lemon curd and Lidl's jams, which are excellent. I don't make my own jams/curds although I could do, but it's a case of how many jobs you can pack into a day, and that would be a job too far although I make all our meals from scratch, convenience food is a can of tomatoes.Margaret P

hi angela lemon curd is one thing i do not buy as once you have had homemade you really are spoilt. the only time i buy a curd is if it is a different flavour. i then only buy to see if i like the combination and if i do i then make my own. commercial ones are just not as nice. the oudding you made can be made from scratch without using a jar of curd and is known as lemon pudding from fresh lemon ahich is a batter oudding which is self saucing. recipe is on my blog i think under lemon pudding. i have to try and sort my pantry out too. hooe u r keeping well pattypan xx

Tiptree products are excellent and worth the extra I think. I have only made lemon curd once since I was at school and it was wonderful and remarkably easy to make. Not as easy as opening a jar, though!

I was given a jar of lemon curd in the summer- nice stuff from Cumbria, I think. I keep thinking I should discard- though now I wonder if, having been in the fridge all this time, I could still try your recipe? And eat immediately!

About Me

Preacher, teacher, wife, mother, grandmother, craftswoman. Married to wonderful Pastor Bob since 1979, now happily settled and busy in Dorset. I am blessed with two wonderful grown-up daughters and a darling grand-daughter